Deprez's pod mentality brings confidence to Sandpoint golf

The Sandpoint girls golf team won its first state title in program history in 2021.

For Michael Deprez, Sandpoint’s golf coach, the state championship was a result of hard work and dedication to the game of golf.

“It took a long time for success to gradually evolve,” Deprez said. “We had a shot in 2020 to win the title, but then covid happened. So, winning at state was great validation for us.”

The biggest key to success for Sandpoint’s golf program has been Deprez’s dedication to keeping his athletes engaged and interested in golf.

“You have to get the kids going young and make it fun,” Deprez said. “When you’re keeping it fun, it keeps them engaged. That’s not just with golf either; that’s with any sport.”

Deprez has also developed a pod mentality for his golfing team.

“Depth is the biggest thing in the sport of golf,” Deprez said. “Most teams have one or two great players and just hope for decent showings from their number three and four golfers. I want to make sure that my third and fourth player is better or as good as the other team’s number one and number two.”

In 2022, the girls team is starting over, four out of the five golfers that made up last year’s state team graduated.

Deprez remains optimistic about the girls chances of doing well in 2022. The Bulldogs are bringing in sophomores and freshmen with experience.

“They’ve all played the sport for a number of years,” Deprez said. “They’ve already got most of the fundamentals down. From here it’s all about mastering it.”

Audrey Scheffler is the lone returner from the girls pod. She’s entering her sophomore season and Deprez is confident in her game.

Alexa Tuinstra, a freshman, will also be competing at the varsity level for the girls.

Tuinstra is entering the rebuilding pod for the girls and is looking forward to the competition.

“The competition is going to be really hard,” Tunistra said. “But I think since I’ve been with (Mike) Deprez for the last two years, it will help my game a ton.”

Tuinstra is also entering this season with two years of competitive golf under her belt.

Tuinstra gave a lot of praise to Deprez as a coach and a mentor.

“He’s really fun,” Tunistra said. “He’s not like a lot of coaches; he gives you honest feedback. He’s just a blast to be around and he gives out a lot of helpful advice.”

Tuinstra is a little nervous for the upcoming season, with the expectations of last year 's team being set so high.

“I’m really nervous just based on expectations,” Tuinstra said. “But I’m really excited to see what I’m going to be able to do this year.”

The boys made it to the state tournament a year ago and won seven out of the eight competitions they competed in. Deprez noted that it will not be like that this year.

“It was a foregone conclusion that the boys were going to win a lot,” Deprez said. “Not this year, and that’s what makes this season so fun.”

The boys, much like the girls, won't have a lot of experience.

Merek Bauck is the lone senior on Sandpoint's boys golf team.

“He’s been playing golf for a long time now,” Deprez said. “He’s going to be what the pod is centered around. He showed a lot of enthusiasm last year and he’s been practicing on various golf simulators in preparation for the season.”

Bauck is confident that the boys will make some noise in 2022.

“I think we’re a really competitive group,” Bauck said. “We had a really good team last year, but this year we’re just looking to improve on that. We want to win districts again and place better at state than we did a year ago.”

Bauck is also filling in as a leader while being the only senior on the team.

”These guys are all my friends and I’m here for them,” Bauck said. “We just have fun mainly, but I do feel like I can share my experience with them throughout the season.”

Although the team is in a bit of a limbo from last year, Bauck said this year isn’t as much of a rebuild; it's more about getting better every week.

“We’re all the way there, as far as commitment goes, we want to go far,” Bauck said. “The team is young and they have a bright future ahead of them, but I think we can make some big steps and really go far this year.”

The Bulldogs will be returning junior Jacob Gove to its lineup this year. Deprez noted that his swing has evolved from every year.

Gove is excited for this year after last year’s seniors set the bar for the team going forward.

“I think the seniors really set the standard,” Gove said. “They really set the bar on what it takes to go to state and we just have to follow that blueprint.”

Sandpoint Golf will also be adding a new coach in 2022. Erin Roos.

Roos is a Sandpoint graduate and went on to play Division I volleyball.

Roos also has a golfing background and is looking forward to coming back to coaching.

“Coaching is a hard thing to get away from,” Roos said. “Once you do it for a while, you want to keep doing it.”

Roos spent 25 years as a volleyball coach.

She even spent some time coaching at Sandpoint High School's varsity team in 2000 as well as various other stops in her coaching career.

Roos said she’s going to help the golfers more on the mental side of the game while Deprez handles the technical side of things.

“After coaching, I started helping athletes with the mental side of sports,” Roos said. “That’s where I’m going to be the most helpful is helping the kids get through the mental side of the game.”